Wrestler Chris Benoit's Doctor Faces Expanded Federal Probe

[samanthajane13]

Last Edited: Friday, 13 Jul 2007, 4:10 PM EDT
Created: Thursday, 12 Jul 2007, 3:49 PM EDT

By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) -- Federal agents have expanded their investigation of pro wrestler Chris Benoit’s personal doctor to include former patients and other patients of his who have died.

They seized records dated as far back as 2002, two years earlier than previously acknowledged.

An affidavit by a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent that was part of a warrant to search Dr. Phil Astin’s west Georgia office for a third time said investigators seized 68 boxes of documents, including patient records and billing statements, on Tuesday.

The affidavit said agents were looking for, in part, medical records of inactive or deceased patients, including medical tests, test results and physician notes.

The search followed a statement agents received last Friday from an unidentified source who was associated with Astin’s practice and has known him personally for about ten years. The source said files for former patients or patients who have died may have been stored in a copy room at Astin’s office, according to the affidavit.

Also seized from Astin’s office, the affidavit states, were records of a November 19, 2002, prescription for 200 milligrams of depo-testosterone, an injectable steroid, that was written for an unidentified patient. When Astin was charged last week with improperly prescribing medication to two patients other than Benoit, the indictment only referred to prescriptions dating to 2004.

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Thank you, very much-law enforcement!!!!

This is long over-due.

[samanthajane13]

Latest On Investigation of Benoit’s Doctor, Lance Storm Comments
Reported by Brian Cantor on July 12th, 2007

– An updated Associated Press story on the investigation into Benoit’s physician Dr. Astin says that records seized go back as far as 2002. The story noted that the seizure includes an instance of Astin prescribing 200mg of depotestosterone to an unidentified patient in November of that year.

– On Thursday’s edition of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” former WWE Superstar Lance Storm argued that the prescription exemption under WWE’s Wellness Policy is a loophole worthy of serious concern. He wasn’t entirely critical of WWE’s policies as a company, however, noting that some of the drug use in pro wrestling occurs not out of genuine medical necessity (as is argued by those against the current WWE schedule) but as a product of a culture that perpetuates the belief that painkillers and other drugs are necessary (in essence, some wrestlers are fooling themselves). He also said that some use the “life on the road” argument merely as an excuse to take drugs.